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Re: {Debian (>=Jessie)} AND { MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, etc}

On 12/2/2016 4:21 PM, Jochen Spieker wrote:

Richard Owlett:

I have a well used Lenovo R61 Thinkpad whose sole raison d'etre is to serve
as a test platform for experiments which may spectacularly fail.

To quote a product description, it has:
   Card Reader
     4 in 1 card reader
     Supported Flash Memory
     Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, xD-Picture Card

My local supplier has 32GB cards in stock. Not sure which of the above
flavors, as I just asked him what he had available that were compatible with
my hardware.


He probably has SD cards. All other options in your list have come out
of fashion.


I'm pondering an application that could be accomplished with USB flash
drives.
It would be much "NICER" if that x GB were physically "inside" the laptop's
profile.


Beware that this might slightly increase power usage / reduce battery
life. That's at least my observation from a couple of years ago.
Depenging on the hardware, an SD card can keep a bus alive that could be
put to sleep otherwise. But if I would have to guess this is not an
issue for your use case.
No problem for medium term. It will sit on my desk next to my "regular" machine. 




My questions:
   1. Can Debian (and to what extent) make use of that storage?


Debian (the linux kernel) can use SD cards just like USB thumb drives or
other types of removable (and rewritable) storage. It's simply a block
device.


I was assuming that but thought it better to ask.




   2. Can Debian itself reside on that medium?
      I'm thinking in terms of changing look/feel/function/capabilities/...
      of the machine by swapping media before "power up".
      [The BIOS *DOES* have some capability to specify precedence of boot
devices.]


Debian doesn't really care, but you would have to test whether your BIOS
can really boot from SD cards.
If it "looks" the same as a USB flash device, there should be no problem. 





   3. Any Debian people using this capability who would care to comment?
      ["off list" replies fine]


I would like to see replies here. :)

J.
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